The present invention relates to an absorbent of chlorosilane compounds or, more particularly, to an absorbent material having a capacity of absorbing a large volume of chlorosilane compounds without the problem of producing toxic gases by the reaction with the chlorosilane compound.
As a class of important starting materials, consumption of chlorosilane compounds is rapidly increasing year by year in various industries for the production of silicones, semiconductor silicon, synthetic quartz glass and the like. Chlorosilane compounds in general, however, are chemically very unstable and must be handled with utmost care in order to prevent hazardous troubles. When a chlorosilane compound is exposed to atmospheric air by being leaked out of a tightly stoppered container in which the compound is stored, for example, the chlorosilane compound is readily reacted with the moisture in the atmospheric air and rapidly hydrolyzed to produce toxic and corrosive hydrogen chloride gas and, sometimes, inflammable and explosive hydrogen gas. In addition, chlorosilane compounds per se generally have a low flash point and are very inflammable so that handling of chlorosilane compounds is always accompanied by a danger of fire and explosion and, once a chlorosilane compound has caught fire, the fire can be extinguished only with great difficulties. In this regard, it is important for safety that a chlorosilane compound running out of a container is immediately obsorbed in an absorbent material in order to be prevented from spreading.
The most conventional and traditional absorbent material used in the prior art for the above mentioned purpose of absorption is dry sand which, however, is not free from the disadvantages that the amount of the chlorosilane compound which can be absorbed by a unit weight of dry sand is relatively small and that impurities contained in natural sand may sometimes react with the chlorosilane compound to produce toxic gases.